The senior right-hander was in command, striking out two and walking none.

"Everything was working, I felt real good," Ruggiero said. "The curveball was getting them off-balance a little and I would come back with the fastball."

Ruggiero went all seven and finished the game with a flourish by striking out the final batter. Two of the hits he gave up were soft shots off the end of the bat, one of which went for a double by Dan McDonald.

In every inning from the fourth through the sixth, Notre Dame (9-3, 7-2) had at least one runner in scoring position and two outs, but failed to capitalize each time.

"We put together some hits, but we didn't put together the hits at the right time," Bedics said. "I thought we swung the bat well today, which is something we've been struggling with lately. But when we did hit the ball, we hit it right at them or didn't come through at the right time."

Ruggiero made a two-run triple from Tyler Buskirk in the third inning hold up as the winning runs. Catcher Devon LaBarre and Ruggiero singled to start the inning before Buskirk hit the first pitch he saw from Notre Dame starter Sean Williams to straight-away center field.

"He's been big for us the past two years, and he continues to do it now," Pen Argyl coach Jacob DeBoer said.

Pen Argyl (8-5, 6-4) had a chance to build its 3-1 lead with Buskirk on third and no outs. But with the infield in, Notre Dame shortstop Eric Santiago made a nice over-the-shoulder catch to get the first out. Williams then induced a comebacker before getting one of his five strikeouts to end the inning.

The momentum from getting out of that jam failed to carry over to the fourth for Notre Dame, which stranded runners on first and second with one out.

The Crusaders had another chance to tie the score the next inning with runners on second and third and two outs for No. 3 hitter Paul Roth. He hit a groundball to shortstop Scott Ackerman, whose throw beat Roth by a half-step.

"That's the guy we want to come up in that situation," Bedics said. "He hit the ball hard, just right at somebody."

Pen Argyl jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, taking advantage of some wildness from Williams. LaBarre and Ruggiero walked with one out and advanced on a wild pitch before Buskirk drove in LaBarre with a single.

That lead held up until the top of the third when Santiago reached on an infield single - the first hit given up by Ruggiero - and scored on a throwing error.

That was the only error of the game with both teams playing well defensively.

"When we play good defense behind (Ruggiero), and he throws strikes, that's the kind of game we're going to get," DeBoer said.